姻 (yīn) is a Chinese character meaning “marriage”. It is written from 女 (woman; female) and 因 (cause; reason), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “marriage”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
女 + 因
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字 (姻，壻家也。女之所因，故曰姻。从女从因，因亦声)
Memory aid
On the left, 女 (woman) points to family and marriage. On the right, 因 (yīn) gives the sound — and it is pronounced exactly the same: yīn. Both parts are really in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 婚姻hūn yīnmarriage姻 = yīn
- 联姻lián yīnto be allied by marriage; (fig.) alliance姻 = yīn
Go deeper
All readings
marriage
marriage; relation by marriage
婚姻；因婚姻结成的亲戚关系。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 婚姻hūn yīnmarriage姻 = yīn
- 联姻lián yīnto be allied by marriage; (fig.) alliance姻 = yīn
Sound component
因 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 姻 mean?
姻 (yīn) means marriage; relation by marriage.
How do you pronounce 姻?
It is pronounced yīn.
What parts is 姻 made of?
女 (woman; female) and 因 (cause; reason), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字 (姻，壻家也。女之所因，故曰姻。从女从因，因亦声). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 姻 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 姻?
女. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 姻?
Common ones are 婚姻 and 联姻. The reading of 姻 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.